Well, my house is feeling empty (for now, new houseguests arrive soon!). MIL left, husband deployed. Vi is actually doing OK with the changes. I thought she might be feeling some separation anxiety when she didn't sleep well for a couple days, but she had a mild cold and I think that was the reason.

We started swim lessons! Huge hit. It's just the YMCA, so no poop song of shame or anything. But I did find one of those foofy private swim schools y'all talk about, there's one called "Floaties" or somesuch by her baby gym. That sounds...inauspicious to me. Luckily the Y seems OK so far.

Tonight M was playing with his baby doll in the way he usually does... he'll pick it up and hug it, and then he licks its face all over, and then he chews on its nose for a while, and then laughs and starts all over again.

After about his third round through this cycle, he suddenly got a thoughtful look on his face, trundled over to the play kitchen and dug out a spoon. And then he was sporking air into the doll's mouth and (every couple of "bites") into his own.

Yes! So now he knows pretty much everything you do with a baby: you hug it, you kiss it, you feed it. (And you chew on its nose, I guess.)

Last night was just one of those... *yawns* Eli woke up every 20-30mins for a feed, I kid you not, from 9pm til 4:30am. I thought we were over the whole 3 month growth spurt. I am one tired mama today. I don't think I can even function with my regular coppa joe this morning *yawns again*

_________________~SARAH~

“I did not become a vegetarian for my health, I did it for the health of the chickens.”

Tonight M was playing with his baby doll in the way he usually does... he'll pick it up and hug it, and then he licks its face all over, and then he chews on its nose for a while, and then laughs and starts all over again.

After about his third round through this cycle, he suddenly got a thoughtful look on his face, trundled over to the play kitchen and dug out a spoon. And then he was sporking air into the doll's mouth and (every couple of "bites") into his own.

Yes! So now he knows pretty much everything you do with a baby: you hug it, you kiss it, you feed it. (And you chew on its nose, I guess.)

And you wash it! You know, with your tongue, like kittens.

_________________Man, fork the gender card, imma come at you with the whole damned gender deck. - Olives Did you ever think that, like, YOU are a sexy costume FOR a diva cup? - solipsistnationblog!FB!

Congrats Eli!! I never realized rolling was so hard until I saw ALL the work that Giles had to put into it!!! And Tofulish, I know it must be adorable to hear a little voice calling Mama - I can't wait!!!

So Giles is getting kinda mobile. He can roll pretty well, but hasn't seen it as a way to get from point A to B yet (thankfully) but yesteday I left him for a few minutes on a blanket on the floor and came back and found him about 4 feet away with his whole lower half shoved under the couch. I guess he has found a way to scoot backwards! He still acts like a parapalegic - try to stand that man up and his legs turn to noodles!

We have a rolling baby! Eli went from tummy to back, twice yesterday. Yay! :)

Did he seem surprised? I remember the first time Beetroot rolled back to stomach, he looked up at me in shock and was all, "what the fizzle?!!!" :D His first tummy-to-back rolls, though, were more, "yeah, fork you tummy time! So there!"

We have a rolling baby! Eli went from tummy to back, twice yesterday. Yay! :)

Did he seem surprised? I remember the first time Beetroot rolled back to stomach, he looked up at me in shock and was all, "what the fizzle?!!!" :D His first tummy-to-back rolls, though, were more, "yeah, fork you tummy time! So there!"

We have a rolling baby! Eli went from tummy to back, twice yesterday. Yay! :)

Did he seem surprised? I remember the first time Beetroot rolled back to stomach, he looked up at me in shock and was all, "what the fizzle?!!!" :D His first tummy-to-back rolls, though, were more, "yeah, fork you tummy time! So there!"

We called it teleporting too... I think it's like with earth worms, they wiggle a lot and eventually they get somewhere.

After six months of going to preschool/daycare, the Magician has finally stopped melting down when I leave... At least he hasn't this week. Not once! Today he sort of questioningly said "bye?" to me as I left. Adorasad.

Yay for the magician! It's always heartwrenching when Henry gets upset when I leave, but then kind of insulting when he doesn't care at all.Henry had his 12 month checkup yesterday before the blizzard, he came in at 23.4 lbs and 30.5 inches which means he's gained about 15 pounds and grew 10 inches in a year which I think is super cool. He's added 'more' to his signs, and he's getting the hang of please, but most of the time he leans over and rubs my chest instead. He just started standing on his own after pulling up and cruising for months and months and just today stood there and clapped! He does not seem at all interested in walking, but he's pretty capable of getting around, so no worries yet.

you guys, we just checked out a preschool type place for Dahlia and I think she wants to go there!! This is a big deal because lately I've been feeling that most of her bad behavior (ok, its never really BAD persay) is due to boredom, and that she could definitely stand to have her horizons broadened beyond the daily trips to the park and staying home with Sierra and Papa. Our finances have never really allowed for anything like this, but I've decided it's time to stretch our $ a little bit, and this place is really quite affordable and we'll only be doing 2 days a week.

it's really more of an arts playgroup situation, for 4 hours a day and very small - 2 teachers and no more than 12 kids, usually only 8. They say the day is structured somewhat, with leanings toward different segments based on theatre, making art, and music but when we visited it seemed very freeform. I also like that the 2 main teachers are male because Dahlia is used to that. And bonus - there is another vegan kid!! I didn't get to speak to the kid and her dad but I believe they follow the Ital diet. I dunno, it's just nice that I didn't have to explain what it means - the school provides snack, which is generally some kind of organic fruit, and then we send her lunch with her.

There's so many logistics that I'm concerned about - who is going to help her with the bathroom? will she be able to open her sandwich container etc hahaha. But then I take a deep breath and remember that the director/teachers do this for a living and must know what they're doing. Such a weird feeling to let go like this! But I had to come to terms with the fact that we've been keeping her home mainly out of our own fears and that it probably will be beneficial for her to hang out with some other kids. She'd technically be eligible for free public pre-k in the fall but I don't know if she'll get a spot since there aren't many and it's lottery-based...but I'd rather get her started in this small homey environment (totally weird, the layout of the place is exactly the same as our apartment layout - most houses in our area are I guess) so that maybe the shock of being in a 20-child pre-k class won't be as awful.

Audrey, that sounds awesome! I bet she's going to love it. Good for you guys - it's so scary to let them go but I see my own kids get such a kick out of being with their friends and I love knowing that they have a network of people who love them, not just me and their dad. Have fun, Dahlia!

zahara is really getting into saying mama all the time at the moment. it's awesome. for so long she would happily say dada and lijah (elijah) but no mama love. now it's her favourite word!!! whee!! she is also obsessed with pretending to mix and eat things and tea sets. i am kinda bummed because i was going to get her a tea set for her 1st birthday, but all of the websites recommended ages 3+ and so i figured she was way too young. but every time we go to my friend's house, she makes a beeline for the tea set and spends ages pretending to pour out of the teapot and drink from the cups, she also brings the stuff ov er for the grown-ups to "drink" too. sooooo cute.

zahara is really getting into saying mama all the time at the moment. it's awesome. for so long she would happily say dada and lijah (elijah) but no mama love. now it's her favourite word!!! whee!! she is also obsessed with pretending to mix and eat things and tea sets. i am kinda bummed because i was going to get her a tea set for her 1st birthday, but all of the websites recommended ages 3+ and so i figured she was way too young. but every time we go to my friend's house, she makes a beeline for the tea set and spends ages pretending to pour out of the teapot and drink from the cups, she also brings the stuff ov er for the grown-ups to "drink" too. sooooo cute.

Hmm... the Emperor has a play kitchen set that includes tea stuff, and M (who just turned 1) LOVES the teacups & stuff. I hadn't considered that he might be underaged for them. It looks like the set's meant for 2 and up (http://www.greentoys.com/tea.html). Not sure why, it doesn't have anything that could be swallowed. Might be a matter of poking little eyes out with the utensils.

In fact, what I was coming to post is that M is suddenly obsessed with and remarkably good at drinking from a cup, provided that it's small. His favorite thing to drink out of is one of the tiny toy teacups!

He is also suddenly really good at sporking things into his mouth. He can eat most of a vegan yogurt without spilling more than a drop or two.

E was much, much slower with fine motor skill stuff (and in fact, is probably still a little behind on them) so it's really fun to see all this stuff develop in a younger baby.

We just looked at tea sets at the store today! The ones we saw also said "3+", but there weren't any small parts, so I'm not sure what that's about. She's just this past month been starting to get the idea of "pretend" (checking her doll's diaper and the sofreakingadorableIcoulddie fake sleeping). I'd really like to get some dishes second hand instead of buying new plastic stuff, but am coming up empty. I just saw that GreenToys makes some stuff so I'm hunting for that online. The trouble is everything is like twice the price here (grr).

Audrey, that's great about the preschool! Maybe it will be nice for Dahlia to have something that's just "hers"...something that only she gets to do. :)

zahara is really getting into saying mama all the time at the moment. it's awesome. for so long she would happily say dada and lijah (elijah) but no mama love. now it's her favourite word!!! whee!! she is also obsessed with pretending to mix and eat things and tea sets. i am kinda bummed because i was going to get her a tea set for her 1st birthday, but all of the websites recommended ages 3+ and so i figured she was way too young. but every time we go to my friend's house, she makes a beeline for the tea set and spends ages pretending to pour out of the teapot and drink from the cups, she also brings the stuff ov er for the grown-ups to "drink" too. sooooo cute.

Hmm... the Emperor has a play kitchen set that includes tea stuff, and M (who just turned 1) LOVES the teacups & stuff. I hadn't considered that he might be underaged for them. It looks like the set's meant for 2 and up (http://www.greentoys.com/tea.html). Not sure why, it doesn't have anything that could be swallowed. Might be a matter of poking little eyes out with the utensils.

In fact, what I was coming to post is that M is suddenly obsessed with and remarkably good at drinking from a cup, provided that it's small. His favorite thing to drink out of is one of the tiny toy teacups!

He is also suddenly really good at sporking things into his mouth. He can eat most of a vegan yogurt without spilling more than a drop or two.

E was much, much slower with fine motor skill stuff (and in fact, is probably still a little behind on them) so it's really fun to see all this stuff develop in a younger baby.

Sam is very slow with fine motor skills too. He is almost 4.5 and STILL can't do much. Scissors? Let's not even go there. Holding a pencil properly? Yeah, no dice. I have to work on those a lot I guess this year before we start his Kinder curriculum in Sept.

_________________~SARAH~

“I did not become a vegetarian for my health, I did it for the health of the chickens.”

Hi everybody! It's been awhile since I've posted... went back to work and it was awful in so many ways, so at the end of the year I resigned. I finally feel like I've caught up on everything that didn't get done and we're getting into a lovely routine and happy and healthy. Yay!

BabyEnchilada is 1 and 1/3 now and just a bundle of fun. He's super social and makes friends everywhere we go, climbs on everything and runs pretty dang fast, has had 16 teeth since 10 months, eats anything and everything, and loves books, animals, and balls.

Here's a recent pic enjoying a kale smoothie

It's so fun to see how much all of these babies are growing up - and what awesome parents you guys all are. Much love!!! BigE